Missing Scenes, The Truth about Holly
by sammie28
Summary: Missing scenes from "The Truth About Holly". Hawke, Dom POVs on Caitlin.
1. Hawke, part 1

**Missing Scenes, "The Truth about Holly"**  
>by Sammie<p>

DISCLAIMER: Not mine. They belong to Belisarius Productions and Universal.

SUMMARY: Missing scenes from "The Truth About Holly". Hawke, Dom POVs on Caitlin.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I was barely old enough to remember the original run of "Airwolf", but I always had this mental image of Airwolf against a backdrop of hills with patches of brown grass. Yay for Hulu and Retro TV having episodes of the show and for this site's "Airwolf" stories!

"Holly" was a little of a WTH episode for me - Airwolf seemed somewhat superfluous to the storyline ( .:sob:. ). That said, I loved the cracking dialogue between Hawke and Caitlin, which never seemed to pick up again as well as it did this episode, and Caitlin and Dom's interactions. Unfortunately, imho, later episodes didn't use her quite as well.

DPB's next two series' Caitlins (Pike and Todd) both used "Kate" as the spelling of their nicknames, but fanon spells Caitlin's nickname is spelled "Cait", so I will as well.

Episode quotes in italics.

* * *

><p><strong>Hawke<strong>

Speak of the devil.

He has to admit he's often thought of her in the weeks since they parted. He isn't not sure why, but he has, and now here she is, standing in front of him. Trust her to catch him off guard; she seems fairly good at that. He grins at her. "_Caitlin. Deputy Caitlin._"

She smiles, and he thinks idly that she has great teeth and a brilliant smile. "_I know that._"

His grin widens; he can't help it.

She isn't his type. He goes for... the femme fatale: sophisticated, sometimes exotic, well-dressed - not girls in jeans and baseball caps. Yet he hasn't been able to forget this one, even after Dom stopped singing about her and pestering him about her after they came back to California.

"_So where do you keep it?_" she asks, her nose wrinkling just slightly, and he can just see her bursting at the seams, dying to find out about Airwolf. Her eyes are shining and her voice just lights up with an interest that mirrors Dom's own affection for the Lady. He wonders amusedly if he should feel insulted that, well, she seems more excited about his helicopter than about him.

He teases her, enjoying the upper hand he has over her. He admits that, even if he were allowed to talk about Airwolf, he'd try to drag it out and tease her as long as he can, just to see that cute face, brimming with curiosity.

He's heard her voice in his head the last couple weeks, the sweet soprano daring him to test her, the twang as she thanked him.

He has told himself he was worried; he's often wondered what happened to her, not the least because she is bull-headed and really needs to be more careful. She showed up in that crazy county the morning after she was nearly raped! She has balls, he admits to himself, and he means that in the best way. But he seriously wishes she were less brave so he could stop worrying.

* * *

><p>He's smiling as he puts his arm around her and they leave off the Stearman, but the teasing, flirty mood disappears as they approach her vehicle.<p>

He doesn't have the heart to make a crack about driving rather than flying, but just exactly where IS her helicopter? He just looks at her questioningly.

"I'm on leave," she replies, as if reading his mind.

Oh, right.

He reaches for the casket, but she lays a hand on his arm. He looks at her through hooded eyes. "I wouldn't." He ignores her and starts pulling at the first latch. She moves in between him and casket, pulling his hand away and closing the latch. "It's, uh, closed for a reason." At his look, she murmurs, "Heat stroke, blood trails, rattlers and other wild animals. It's really, really not pre - good."

"I need to see."

She frowns, looking at him for a moment. He reaches for the latch. This time she helps him pull up the others and open the cover.

Jimmy.

He can feel her eyes on him, briefly, but she says nothing. He suddenly feels very heavy, and for a moment he leans forward, bracing his arms against the casket. It's hard to surprise him, but he nearly jumps when he feels her hand on his back, resting gently between his shoulderblades, the gentle rub comforting in its touch.

It's gone after just a moment, and he won't admit that he wishes she hadn't stopped.

"You can have all the time you need." She disappears.

* * *

><p>"Please tell me that lady over there looking at the Tyler mount wants to hire us," Dom pleads.<p>

"Hi," Holly smiles, sidling up to him. "We missed you at lunch."

Hawke just smiles. At least Holly's looking happy, given the nightmare she's just been in.

"String! The lady over there!"

He doesn't quite realize how long he's been standing there by Caitlin's car; Caitlin hasn't come back to speak with him. He turns to look where Dom is pointing, by the Jet Ranger.

Caitlin is standing directly across from the mount, studying it intently; her head is cocked to one side, her ballcap in her hand.

"Sorry." He grins at Dom's exasperated sigh. "She's here for me."

At that, Dom suddenly looks interested again, while Holly's smile falls from her face. "Really?" Dom beams at him. "Who is she?"

"She's a friend," he corrects, but that doesn't deter the older man, who immediately heads over to where Caitlin is completely immersed in her inspection of the helicopter and the camera. Sighing, he follows.

"Hi!" Dom greets in his booming voice. "I'm Dominic Santini. I run this operation."

Caitlin's about to smile and greet him, and Hawke groans to himself as he sees a look of recognition flash across her face. SO not good.

"Caitlin O'Shannessy," she greets. "It's nice to meet you." She pauses. "Have we met before?"

Dom looks puzzled; he hasn't recognized Caitlin's voice yet, though she clearly has his. "Well, I don't think so."

Hawke groans to himself as he sees confirmation flash in Caitlin's eyes. So he may not have confirmed for her that he had Airwolf or was in the helicopter, but hearing Dom's voice has. She's a cop, he reminds himself, and a pretty tenacious one. She would notice a voice like Dom's, even without an intercom.

"So, how can we help you?" Dom asks.

She gets a mischievous look on her face. "I ain't tellin'!" she singsongs in a perfect imitation of Dom's voice - albeit higher-pitched - and String cannot stop the bark of laughter that escapes him.

Dom stares in indignant shock at Caitlin, who's got a mischievous look on her face, and back to Hawke, who unsuccessfully tries to hide his grin as he pretends to be interested in the paint job on the nose of the Jet Ranger. Holly looks shocked but seems to relax when she sees him laughing.

Hawke opens his mouth to correct Dom's first impression, and he can't stop the laugh that escapes. He attempts to regain his composure, and then he says, "Dom, Caitlin's a helicopter pilot with the Texas Highway Patrol. We met in Texas," he says carefully, giving Dom a meaningful look. "Pope County."

Dom suddenly recognizes Caitlin. "Ohhh! So she's the one we - "

" - I met in the Pope County jail," he interrupts before Dom can give away that he has in fact seen and heard Caitlin himself. "Remember, _I_ told you about her," he says, slowing down the speed of his sentence. "That's how you know."

"Oh, right." Dom nods, catching on to his meeting. "That helicopter pilot!" Dom nods. "Right. Right. String's talked about you."

She clearly doesn't buy a minute of their charade but plays along. "Oh," she deadpans. "Well, it's completely untrue, whwat he says."

Dom blinks, then registers the amusement on her face. He grins wide.

"Hey, uh, now that you and Holly are back," Hawke says, "I'm going to take Cait to grab lunch."

"Oh," she looks startled. "Well, you don't - "

"Come on." He's got his arm around her as he guides her away, and she looks back at Dom and Holly and then at him.

She accompanies him to deliver the body to Jimmy's mother. He feels bad for the older woman; she was a young teenage mother and had nobody except her son and her brother, and now her son Jimmy is gone.

String speaks with her privately, although he doesn't know her very well. He owes it to her.

The older woman connects with Caitlin, however. Caitlin is quiet and respectful and, in Hawke's opinion, far too practiced at delivering bodies to loved ones to be somebody who has done this only once.

They drive the body to the funeral home, and String and Michael both pull some strings to get the funeral in for the next day. It's short notice, but Jimmy's had a long journey and deserves to be finally laid at rest.

Caitlin's subdued at dinner, but he notices it's not because of anything she's going through. She keeps shooting him looks.

"Caitlin, I'm all right," he finally says, and has the pleasure of watching her blush at being caught.

She's eyeing him speculatively, and she blurts, "Even if you'd gotten there a day earlier, it might not have made a difference."

He frowns. "Do you actually believe that?"

She falls quiet, and he recognizes that she's worried about the guilt he's carrying. What startles him even more is that she's managed to see right through him and know what it is that's bothering him. If he'd been a day earlier - they both know that Jimmy might still be alive. Jimmy's time of death was overnight, while String himself was getting locked up.

She doesn't try to offer anymore. She just reaches across the table and squeezes his hand.

He thinks that he should pull his hand away, but he doesn't want to.

It occurs to him that, again, she is far more practiced with this whole business than seems normal. He wonders if her helicopter duties really were just being a "flying meter maid", as she jokingly refers to it, or if there was so much more.

* * *

><p>He sees her over the next day before the funeral, but she doesn't do more than give him her smile and a greeting, though he suspects she is in a silent agreement with Dom to make sure he eats. Dom is taking Holly out for lunch again, and the old man suggests rather bluntly that String take his friend out, too.<p>

He's a little puzzled when Caitlin suddenly stiffens at the suggestion, looking at Holly and Dom and then back to him. She offers to leave; she says she is underfoot. He's puzzled by it, especially when Caitlin shoots Holly another look, and he insists that they go out.

At lunch she seems to relax, and this time no matter how much he insists, she refuses to let him pay. It's not a date, she reminds him, and she still owes him for saving her life. No matter how much he pushes, she refuses.

That settled, she starts in on Airwolf.

So perhaps it's her curiosity which brought and keeps her here. He can tell from the way she asks that she'd been dying to ask about Airwolf from the day they last saw each other. From the way she talks about it, she loves flying and helicopters as much as he does. Airwolf was the first thing that turned her friendly eyes into shining ones - fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman.

Now he's starting to sound like a Regency hero.

He purses his lips over this meal, trying to suppress the smile of amusement that threatens to cross his lips. She's been playing process-of-elimination with her questions about Airwolf, and he has to admit that she's not bad. He accidentally lets slip that he had been a military pilot when he hadn't meant to tell her anything. He's mostly managed to avoid her questions by talking about Dom and Santini Air and distracting her with stories about "that fancy flyin' stuff", which seems to intrigue her as much as Airwolf does - perhaps for the sole reason that he's willing to talk about that but not about Airwolf.

He will admit, however, that he's had fun learning about her. She's got a sister and at least one brother, and knows a lot more about football than he would have expected - though, she IS from Texas. He teases her about having a pony to ride to school, and it's just to see her purse her lips and get that look - one intended to show vague irritation but belied by a smile peeping out as the owner thinks of a way to one-up the speaker. (Never had a pony, she insists.) Her father taught her to fly. Her mother wants...well, she doesn't want to talk about it, but he can guess what her mother wants her to do, and it most likely doesn't involve helicopters, unless they're part of a baby-mobile hanging over a crib.

After lunch, she helps him with the Stearman, and she's pretty good. They're both lying on the ground under the plane, and she's pointing out the problem with the welding repair job that had been previously done before. It's actually rather sad that he hasn't seen it yet, though he does have to admit that neither he nor Dom had checked down there extensively before.

They see Dom and Holly's shoes first, and Hawke rolls himself out and up to greet them, then extends a hand to pull Cait up. He notices that Holly seems upset, but he pushes it out of his mind; she's most likely tired. He mentions the welding issue to Dom, who looks surprised. Caitlin blushes but smiles anyhow.

* * *

><p>"She seems nice."<p>

Hm? "Who?"

"Caitlin." Holly twists one of her new scarves in her hands.

He smiles a bit as he sits in the pilot's seat, working on fixing one of the controls. "Yeah, she is."

"How'd you meet?"

"Pope County, Texas." Blasted little place. It's a shame about that deputy - he would have made a far better sheriff than the one there. And it's a shame about Cait, too - she would've made a pretty good sheriff.

His smile widens unconsciously. A mouth like hers plus a minor arsenal and a badge? He'd fly back to Texas just to see her busting chops in that town.

He looks up to see Holly watching him and frowning, and it makes him a little uneasy. Her frown disappears right away when he catches her eye, and she smiles brilliantly at him. "Texas? That's a long way from here," Holly comments.

He has to admit to a little puzzlement at Holly's interest in Cait, but perhaps it's a girl thing. "She's from Texas."

"Oh."

He will wonder, in retrospect, if he endangered Cait even more by what he said.

* * *

><p>Holly takes his arm after the funeral, looping her arm through his. She's sweet enough, and he figures that she means well, but he wants to think in private.<p>

Dom insists on lunch together. He acquiesces because, well, he is a little hungry, and, no matter what his own mood is, Holly deserves some normality in her life and Caitlin doesn't deserve to be put through his moods.

Holly rests her head on his shoulder. She asks him several times whether he's OK.

At lunch, the meal begins in silence. That seems to unsettle both Dom and Caitlin, and the two start up a chat. He can't help his amused smiles, despite his friend's death and his own guilt; Caitlin's arch sweetness is often enough to catch Dom off guard, and she gets a few shots in - which he picks up right away but Dom takes a second to catch. Dom can be sarcastic and funny, but apparently the older man has been caught off guard by Cait's bright-eyed amiability; he always seems surprised to hear such cheek coming from the wholesome-looking pilot. "Hey!" he exclaims at her last shot, and Caitlin's smile widens even more.

This time he can't stop his chuckle, and Dom makes a face at him. Caitlin gives him a warm smile, which returns with a small one of his own.

The waitress approaches to refill his drink. He grins and thanks her. When he turns back to Caitlin, she's no longer looking at him; her smile has dimmed ever so slightly, and her eyes are darting back and forth. He tries to follow where she is looking, and for a second she seems to look at Holly and then the departing waitress, but he can't be sure; when String looks at the visiting pilot again, Caitlin's smile is back. It doesn't reach her eyes, however.

Holly pushes her plate away and says sharply she's not hungry; Caitlin moves to engage her and is successful, drawing her into conversation and somehow managing to get her to start eating again.

* * *

><p>Dom's about to pull her off the stunt, and she pulls a cheeky comment out, punctuating with an air kiss. Dom looks shocked, and he and Holly can't help but laugh at the expression on his face. The whole act makes him smile, and clearly she enjoys surprising Dom as much as String enjoys watching her do it.<p>

She clearly didn't think that a kiss would be in the cards, and he can feel her nervousness. Her first time in California, her first flying stunt, her first movie, and she's being asked to kiss a stranger - OK, not a complete stranger. He tilts his head, and surprisingly, she gives him a businesslike peck and pats him on the shoulder professionally before stepping away. He's slightly surprised; his eyes flicker to her, but she's not looking at him - she's already turned to the director.

He is sympathetic. If he kisses a pretty woman, he's acknowledged as a lucky guy; but for her, she potentially loses her hard-earned respect. A state-issed badge, a gun, a warrant, and a helicopter weren't enough to convince a punk in Pope County to listen. If she had shown any more femininity, they would have taken it as acquiescence.

Still, it doesn't diminish his own enjoyment on the second round. She must have more than managed on her first kiss; she's a great kisser. Pretty, to boot.

He's most certainly in the wrong business. There's something to this movie stuff, he muses as he wraps his arm around her a little more tightly. Flying helicopters and kissing pretty girls...

There are bombshell types, and there are the sweet homegrown types, and she's one the latter - mixed with football and helicopter-flying. Her embarrassment is just as fun for him, not because he likes to see her humiliated or anything - she doesn't have anything to be humiliated about anyhow - but because he hasn't had the chance yet to see her embarrassed. She's not into histrionics, but he has to admit he likes seeing her just caught off guard; her expression and heightened color he won't forget soon. Her freckles kind of disappear when she blushes.

Any of that is shortlived; Carlson breaks them apart, and the rapid deteriotion of events that follow don't help. The stupid director keeps radioing for more bordering-on-disaster flying, and the fact that she is not pulling out when he yells for her to do so sends him and Dom running. For a moment he's afraid that that explosion wasn't special effects. His reassurances seem naive in retrospect, though there was no way he would have known that the helicopter had been sabotaged.

It's an odd relief at the sight of her throwing her gloves at her the plane in anger, and this time the slim, firm hand handing over a wingnut is not accompanied with a smile.

She may be frustrated - he rather suspects it's her fear, acting out in anger - but she's some pilot to handle a problem as serious as that one.

And he deserved that scolding. He should've asked how she was first.

* * *

><p>He's gotten Holly carefully ensconced away in the helicopter, ready to go to his cabin. He returns to the hangar to grab his jacket. She's got the paper from Holly's "gift" in front of her, her forehead crinkled slightly in thought.<p>

She jumps when she hears him and sets the note back down before gathering up the extra tools she's going to need. "Holly all right?"

"Yeah. I'm just grabbing my jacket."

She returns to work. He disappears into the office and grabs his things. As he exits he can hear her humming to herself and running the vacuum cleaner again. He lingers a moment, then comes to stand right behind her as she backs out of the helicopter. She turns quickly, and suddenly he finds himself toe-to-toe with her. She squeaks in surprise - not very tough for a helicopter pilot.

Despite everything, he can't help but be amused. His hands rest loosely on his hips, and he suppresses a smile. Apparently he hasn't done such a good job with it - that seems to be a recurring theme when he's around her - because her surprise shifts back into her normal amiable smile when she sees his less-than-scary expression. They stand off for a few moments more, each staring the other down, daring the other to speak first. Normally, he wins staring contests; this time, no.

Well, he's just as skilled on the offense. The corners of his lips twitch. "Beef?" he says in a tone that indicates he clearly knows they weren't talking about meat.

"I AM from Texas," she drawls, not breaking their gaze. She offers no more information and just dares him to ask for more. When he doesn't, she returns the shot. "Turkey?"

"'Bout as likely as beef," he retorts.

She returns with an engimatic smile; she's obviously not going to say any more about what she and Holly had been talking about. "Turkey's out of season - huntin' or eatin'." She raises an eyebrow at him, a smile playing on her lips, and it's his turn to stare back. After a moment, the smile he's been biting back flashes briefly, and she takes that as a well-deserved win and flounces back to work, effectively ending the conversation. The vacuum cleaner starts up again, and she's back to humming to herself as the machine runs.

He can't believe that she just dismissed him like that, and it intrigues him. She's not his type, he reminds himself, yet this cracking sense of cheeky humor fascinates him. It seems it's Caitlin's regular personality, and it's getting under his skin in a way he hadn't anticipated. Of course, he hadn't quite expected this from their first encounter with each other, but being threatened with gang rape two days in a row isn't likely to help anybody's sense of humor. Apparently now her natural personality is coming out the further away the events of Pope County get.

He's met a great deal of women who are confident enough to laugh at his jokes, and some who can be sarcastic, but this one has been able to match him shot for shot nearly every time. The last time he teased somebody like that, about eating a cute, woolly little lamb, all he'd gotten was a glare from Gabrielle, who -

He jumps when he feels a hand on his arm. She's looking up at him, her face filled with concern. "Hawke?"

"Yeah." He snaps out of his melancholy thoughts. "I gotta go. Holly's waiting."

She nods but has obviously seen what he hadn't meant for her to see. She pauses, then turns towards the counter quickly, then back. "I'm - " she jerks a thumb back towards the counter. "I'm going to be here for a while tonight, and I'll be done vacuuming soon." She's babbling now. "So...I'll be able to hear the phone when it rings, if - if you need to t - anything."

His jaw tenses of its own accord, and he looks back at her with his normal intensity - none of the fun bantering they've had. She doesn't flinch, nor does her expression change; she just returns his gaze, as steady and as kind as it had been that morning. He nods. She gives him a smile, pauses one more moment, and then turns to head back to work.

He reaches out for her instinctively, grabbing her arm, and she turns back, her expression puzzled but still as generously kind as she ever was. "Thank you."

* * *

><p>He doesn't make friends easily.<p>

It's just easier to maintain a distance. Less obligation. Less responsibility. Less pain when things end badly. Those who end up becoming his friends generally end up being those who won't leave him alone. A sad state of affairs, he has to admit.

Yet he meant it, earlier this evening, when he told Holly that Cait was a good friend. Driving several hundred miles to bring the body of a man she didn't know to a man she barely knows is enough to inspire his own feelings of friendship. He knows that she is grateful to him for saving her life, but he feels that he was just in the right place at the right time. She went out of her way to be at the right place, and her quiet support tonight at the hangar was neither requested nor unwelcome.

He turns over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. All this, and he barely knows her.

He has to admit to surprise at the depth of Holly's jealousy. Apparently she's the only one who seems to feel that way, he's sure. Caitlin doesn't seem jealous of Holly, and if she is, she sure doesn't show any of it - and he thinks he's got a good enough read on her character. Holly had said Cait was like one of the guys - at least until Cait won him; while he doubts the latter part, perhaps his sense of ease does come from that. He doesn't quite feel like he's putting on the romantic show with her.

In retrospect, it all makes sense.


	2. Hawke, part 2

**Missing Scenes, "The Truth about Holly"**  
>by Sammie<p><p>

* * *

><p>"Lunch," he calls as he comes into the hangar, toting a large bag in one hand, Holly clinging to the other.<p>

"Oh, brilliant!" Dom waves at them from the top of the plane he's working on. "We'll be there in a minute." He holds down what seems to be a nail and swings down a hammer.

He nods towards the camoflauge-painted helicopter. "Taking her out again?"

"Yeah," Dom nods from his spot near the top of the helicopter. "Caitlin's going to take her out tomorrow morning. Soon as we get everything checked out."

He grins down at her, where she's working under the Stearman. "Looks like you're getting your flying time in."

She returns with a bright smile of her own. "Oh, yeah! I love it." He offers his free hand, the one that doesn't have Holly clinging to it, and pulls her up. Her greeting to Holly is returned with a lukewarm 'hello', and he wonders if they had a fight, but one look at Caitlin tells him otherwise. She looks as confused as he is.

Wariness crosses her face for a blink-and-miss second, and then she's back to her big smile. She grabs a rag, wiping the oil off her hands and shaking dust out of her hair. "Did I hear something about food?"

"Lunch. We figured you two would be hungry."

"It was Hawke's idea," Holly smiles, clutching his arm and looking up at him. "He's so considerate."

"Sure, sure." Dom climbs down. "What've we got?"

"Sandwiches. Drinks over there."

"Oh, lovely. Thanks," Caitlin begins, popping open a drink and handing one to Dom. "What kind of sandwiches?"

His lips twitch and he pulls one of the small heroes out of the bag. "Your favorite. Turkey," he replies in a deadpan tone as he holds out the sandwich.

She makes a face at him, pursing her lips in an attempt to hide her smile but is unsuccessful. In her grin, she acknowledges the hit. "Cute."

"That's what they all say." It takes a second to register, and then her mouth opens in a look of vague indignation that he'd (pretend to) take her comment as one on his looks. She purses her lips again in amused irritation. Two hits in one day. He's on a roll.

"Well," she replies back. "It's the least I can do for a man who goes out of his way to get turkey out of season."

An amused smile crosses his lips, and he feels a slight tug on his arm.

"So, what's so funny?" Holly asks brightly, but there's something in the tone that's a little shrill.

"Oh, nothing. It's nothing," Caitlin hurriedly assures her.

"Private joke," he replies and immediately wishes he hadn't said it. The look on Holly's face is the same as it was last night at his cabin. "Come on. Let's drop your things in Dom's office."

* * *

><p>He doesn't make the connection immediately. When he arrived at the hangar after the explosion, all he could think of is that Aarons was targeting Santini Air again to scare Holly. Like Dom said, two accidents in a week isn't accidental. One can't pay enough to get a coincidence like that. Yet, as Aarons speaks now, he finds he's not completely surprised.<p>

"_She tried to knife one girl._"

He closes his eyes briefly.

Aarons smugly assumes that the dead cat in the mail is what tipped them off. Perhaps it was for Dom. For him, the cat is just confirmation.

The minute Everett says that Holly and Caitlin are headed up to his cabin, he requests the turbos. His gut is churning; whatever this is can't be good. Caitlin hasn't been up there yet, and the last stay there with Holly was uncomfortable, to say the least.

_She tried to knife one girl._

Aarons' words keep turning over in his mind. The man has no reason to lie; he's hardly a lady-killer, and admitting to two other men that he had such a failure with a beautiful woman is hardly in his interests. No, what he says about Holly's true.

And, String thinks to himself grimly, he's inadvertently put Caitlin in danger, because Caitlin's been kind to him.

He streaks into the restricted airspace without a pause. He does not want to guess as to why Caitlin is flying into the airspace Dom told her not to fly into. Even if she'd forgotten about Dom's warning, the military control would have radioed her. Either her communications have been cut, she's stupid, or she's under some kind of duress.

His only comfort is that, from the way the Jet Ranger is flying, it appears to be flown by someone who knows what they're doing. If there are really only two people in the chopper, as Everett said, then Caitlin must be flying, which means she's still alive...for now.

Dom's Jet Ranger suddenly starts diving towards the ocean, and he can feel his gut turning.

Even when he radioes Cait to tell her that he's standing between her and the fighter planes, he has no idea what's going on. She doesn't respond to his calls for a few minutes, and it's a relief to hear her voice when she finally does speak.

"Why does she sound like she's just run a 10K?" Dom asks.

* * *

><p>They hide Airwolf temporarily in a back field and drive as fast as they can back to the airport. Caitlin is coming in hard and fast, and she lands the helicopter hard. He and Dom run towards it, but before they even reach it, Holly is jumping out. She runs towards them, crying. "Oh, thank God," she sobs as she throws her arms around his neck. "I nearly died! She nearly killed me!"<p>

Hawke gently pries her arms from around him and gives her a hug before depositing her in Dom's arms, where she's still crying. He runs towards the helicopter, whose blades are slowing in their rotation. He can hear Holly calling after him, repeating something about Caitlin trying to murder her, but he ignores it.

He expects to see the pilot's door open and Caitlin step out. Nothing. He reaches the door and grabs the handle, yanking it open. "Caitlin!"

She's sitting in the seat, slightly wide-eyed, staring at the cyclic, her hand still griping it so tightly her knuckles are white.

"Caitlin."

She recovers, giving him one of her big smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. She starts to climb out, and he reaches up to help her. Her hands are clammy, and she seems a little unsteady. "You all right?" He's got her firmly by her arms, and he squeezes her arms comfortingly.

She's looking a little peaked. "Yeah." She nods. "Yeah." She pauses, then seems to remember something, and then murmurs, "I think...I think Holly hit her head."

"Dom's taking care of her," he dismisses it.

"I didn't mean to push her that hard," she comments, looking down at the ground, as if willing him to believe her.

"Cait, Dom'll take care of her," he repeats, then ducks his head slightly, trying to catch her eyes. "You. You all right?"

She doesn't seem to register the question immediately, but then nods. She starts to reach back to the helicopter, and he holds the door open for her as she climbs back in to root out for her things.

The guilt eats at him. Every instance, she's nearly died, and she's gotten left on her own. After nearly crashing in that movie stunt, he and Dom chased Aarons' men, who'd come on set. The helicopter that blew up - it was Dom's close call but it was Caitlin was supposed to die in that explosion; and they ran after Aarons immediately. The only time he's been here for her is now.

She's got a constitution of steel, he thinks to himself. "Are you all right?"

"You worried about me or the chopper?" her voice comes, muffled, as she's poking around the back for her things. When she appears, she has her cheeky grin back on. It doesn't quite reach her eyes, but at least she's smiling.

He just grins. She's recovered, at least temporarily.

"What happened up there?" he asks quietly.

She looks at him, as if she's going to tell him everything, but her eyes flicker over to Dom and to Holly, and she pauses. She opens her mouth to speak, then looks back to Holly and then back to him. She stops, then says, "Hawke, I know she's your friend - "

"Truth, Caitlin."

"There's something really, really wrong with her," she blurts. "She needs help."

* * *

><p>"How well do you know that girl?" The detective looks at the both of them.<p>

He shrugs. "Just a couple days for me. She's Dom's niece."

"Not her. The other one."

"Caitlin?" The detective nods, and he and Dom exchange looks. "Just a couple days," he replies. "Both me and Dom."

"She's my employee," Dom says firmly, squaring up protectively for a fight.

"Good," the detective retorts. "You ought to listen to her a little more. She thinks too well of people, but she sees things you two obviously missed." He turns to go.

He frowns, exchanging looks with Dom. The nurse is still with Holly, but the doctor is nowhere to be found. They decide not to ask anything of the nurse - not with Holly present - and go to look for the doctor, who is as absent as Caitlin.

They find them in the office, where the doctor is writing furiously as Caitlin speaks. They stand outside the door for almost another fifteen minutes before the door opens. The doctor is shaking her hand. They're chitchatting, and then the doctor picks up his things to go when Caitlin stops him. Neither have seen him and Dom outside.

"She'll be all right, won't she?" Caitlin's voice is soft, worried.

"We'll make sure of it, Miss O'Shannessy."

Caitlin smiles and shakes the doctor's hand. She jumps slightly when String clears his throat, signaling their presence. She turns and sees the two of them, gives them a smile, and then excuses herself. She greets Everett and disappears out of the hangar.

"Doc?" Dom encouraged.

"Your niece has got all the signs. It's good that we're taking her for treatment now. You're very blessed that things didn't get worse."

"So, the helicopter accidents? The spider?"

"The note, the waitress, the constant questioning, the gun. The stories." The doctor's eyes dart between the two men. "You didn't know?"

"The note? The one with the present?"

"Your Caitlin O'Shannessy recognized that the note as written by a woman. Not a masculine enough hand, she said, although she followed that up with the comment that she'd known guys with girly handwriting, as she put it."

He purses his lips. He should've known. "The waitress?"

"She said you apparently smiled and thanked a waitress, and Holly seemed upset?"

"Well, yeah, but she was refilling my drink," he protests. "And she's sure it upset Holly?" He pauses, thinking over what he said, and then shakes his head in realization.

The doctor just holds out his hands, a "see?" look on his face.

"Stories?" Dom cuts in. "What stories?"

"The man she ran away from said that she thought her life was a great drama," Hawke says slowly, crossing his arms. "Cut his brake lines, said her life was in danger, that his men were leering at her, sent herself a dead cat." He can't remember much more than that.

The doctor nods knowingly. "Sounds about right." He opened his mouth, then paused. "Does that man Holly was with - does he lie?"

"What?" Dom looks as confused as he feels.

"This man. Does he lie?"

"What are you talking about? Of course he does!" Dom exclaims. "He said he'd have left Holly in the street if he could!" He turns to the doctor. "He's scum!"

"He told us - us, who pulled Holly out of his house - that he would have left Holly in the street. Stupid thing to say to her uncle." It's all beginning to make sense to him, even if Dom, out of his infinite loyalty, is still holding out a little for Holly. Ed Aarons might have been slime of the earth, but he was telling the truth about Holly. "You mentioned that Cait said something about stories."

The doctor pauses, then says only, "Some things about you. At least three times, when they were alone, Holly brought up your and Miss O'Shannessy's relationship in conversation."

"What relationship?" Dom exclaims, turning to look at him in puzzlement.

"Miss O'Shannessy" the doctor nods in the direction where Caitlin disappeared off to "was tipped off when Holly said that Aarons lied a lot."

"That tipped her off? How?" Dom frowns.

He knows how. Holly had been saying that Aarons was a control freak, a captor who told her that he posted men around his compound to keep her there. If he'd been lying, that meant that she wasn't really a prisoner at all. And if Holly knew he was a liar, that meant that SHE knew everything was a fake - and that meant she knew she could have left any time she wanted, that she wasn't a prisoner.

The doctor nods as Hawke finally works it all out. "Miss O'Shannessy's very fortunate." The doctor pauses. "People with symptoms such as Holly's will often target those within her drama. I'm assuming that the man she was with before didn't keep other women in the house?"

"Not that I saw." String frowns. "He said she tried to kill herself and to kill him." He pauses. "He did say she tried to knife another girl."

"Ready targets." The doctor shakes his head. "You're lucky, Mr. Hawke."

"How am I lucky?" he asks incredulously.

The doctor looks at them with a "don't you get it?" look. "You haven't realized? All those accidents weren't targeted at you. Holly had a ready and available target instead."

He stares at the doctor for a second, hearing verbal confirmation of what he's suspected. He takes a deep breath, making a half-turn away, his hands on his hips.

"Who?" Dom looks confused.

"Caitlin," he replies shortly.

"Caitlin?" Dom is even more puzzled.

"You had two helicopter accidents."

"Yes," Dom replied slowly.

"Both of them were supposed to be Miss O'Shannessy flying, no?" He turns to see Dom looking at the doctor, then at him, then back to the doctor, understanding dawning on his face. "Am I right?"

"The movie stunt," Dom breathes. "The chopper she was going to fly! It was a fluke that I was in it!"

The odds of having possibly fatal crashes on two helicopters which CAIT was supposed to fly is even less likely than just the accidents themselves. They all, including Holly, knew Caitlin was supposed to fly the helicopter in the movie stunt. Dom was in the bad helicopter, the one which blew up, but he'd been starting it up for Cait. She was supposed to be the one there; it had been a flight discussed by all three of them the day before, when Holly was present. All the other flights they made - well, that he and Dom made - went smoothly.

He had assumed that Holly was the one Aarons wanted to hurt, and that he and Dom were the secondary ones - and Caitlin was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He never thought she was the primary target. He doesn't want to dwell on how close he was to making a return trip to Texas, taking the remains of another friend for burial.

"Trust me. Would've been you, Mr. Hawke, if O'Shannessy hadn't been here," the doctor shrugged. "Easier to knock off the rival."

"Why am I always the last one to figure these things out?" Dom exclaims. "Why did Holly think Caitlin was a rival? What's going on with you and Caitlin?"

"Nothing!" he barks. "I barely know her. We met in Texas, and she came and delivered the body of a friend killed over there. There's nothing more."

"Well." The doctor shrugs. "It's typical of this kind of paranoia. Holly wouldn't need anything to assume the worst. I rather think your Miss O'Shannessy caught on, no matter how much she tried to lay that aside to help her."

"Good night," Dom exclaims. "Why didn't she tell us?"

"You mentioned a gun?" Hawke interrupts.

The doctor looks between them two in surprise. "She didn't tell you?"

"Tell us what?"

The doctor opens the small zippered pouch and pulled out the small revolver. Dom starts. "Yours?" Both men shake their heads. "Holly pulled a loaded gun on her in the aircraft. Ordered her to keep flying, although she'd been instructed to turn and was attempting to do so."

Dom is staring with his mouth open.

He breathes in deeply, shifting on his feet. "Thank you, doctor." The doctor nods and leaves.

"Why didn't she tell us?" Dom repeats, gesticulating wildly.

"She was most likely hoping that she was wrong about her suspicions," he replies. That, he thinks grimly, and the fact that she most likely felt that she would be badmouthing a family friend to the family. Not an especially great position to be in as a stranger.

She comes back in a few minutes later, laughing at something that Everett is saying. She approaches them with her cheerful smile. Dom reaches over and gives her a big hug. She looks puzzled but hugs him back, looking from Dom to him and then back. Dom releases her, holding her at arm's length with a big grin. Her confusion is evident.

He was too late for Jimmy; he was nearly too late for Cait. What good is it, breaking her out from Pope just to die in California? He reaches out and squeezes her arm, and she gives him a confused smile as her gaze flickers between him and Dom, back and forth, becoming more suspicious by the second. "Y'all aren't firin' me, are ya?"

"Firin'!" Dom imitates her accent. "What do you mean, 'firin''? I never hired you!"

* * *

><p>He feels badly, but someone has to return Airwolf to the lair, and someone must stay with Holly. Dom is doing the latter, so he has to do the former. He sets Caitlin to working, and she jumps into it with a gusto that clearly indicates she needs to take her mind off it all.<p>

He quickly returns Airwolf and drives at top speed back to the hangar. Caitlin is still working when he arrives, and he has to shout over the noise. "Come on! Let's go get something to eat."

"I can't! Everett's not back yet."

He looks around. Huh. He hadn't noticed the mechanic was gone. "All right, then." He hauls himself up onto the chopper next to her.

"You can go," she offers.

"Two'll make the work go faster," he offers back. "Anything I can do?"

She shakes her head. "I'm 'bout done," she says. "I just gotta put all the bolts and stuff back. Oh, I know!" She pulls off a heavy string of wing nuts and bolts she's got around her delicate neck and hands it to him. "Hold, please?"

"What am I," he asks in a deadpan tone, "a hall tree?"

"Oh, is that what what you get paid for?" she asks sweetly, then turns back to her work. He just sits next to her, holding her string so she can pull off the bolts and nuts she needs. At one point he holds one still as she twists it into place. Some time later she finishes. "There. All done."

"Everett's back." He nods to the office, where the mechanic has been working for the last ten minutes. "Wanna grab something to eat?"

"Sure." She jumps down before he gets a chance to offer her his hand. "Where we goin'?"

"Somewhere special you want to go?"

"I've been here two days. Just somewhere new, I guess."

They end up at a sports bar near the airport, and he admits that it's a new experience for him - not that he's never been in a sports bar, but that he's never taken a woman to a sports bar. It's a nice one - well-kept, higher-end - but it's a sports bar nonetheless.

They order, and he grins to himself when he sees what she orders. He's not a firm vegetarian - he eats fish, after all - but what amuses him is what she's got. He's not fond of women who are constantly obsessing about their weight, but he'd be hypocritical to say that people shouldn't take care of themselves.

She's ordered a hamburger. With a huge salad as a side. And she's eating both with gusto.

The TV's on, and they begin recounting the weekend games. Caitlin gets a sour look on her face, and his grin widens. Seems the Dallas Cowboys lost to the Washington Redskins two days prior, 14-34, and she's clearly grouchy about it.

"Four-three record? That's not going to get 'em to the playoffs," he drawls.

She rises to the bait. "There are still nine games!"

"At the rate they're going?" He spears a bean on his plate and uses it to point at her. "Ten says they win half and lose half of those nine."

"Seems someone failed math class," she teases.

"Well, I'll give 'em the benefit of the doubt. Win 5, lose 4."

"My boys'll do better than that," she huffs, unconsciously touching her cap, which is sitting next to her. "'Sides - don't tell me you root for the Rams!" she exclaims in horror.

He just grins, picking up his glass to take a sip. He doesn't answer her question immediately, taking his time before looking at her, his eyes twinkling, and drawls slowly at her, "Hey, 'least our coach knows which quarterback we want to use."

She looks insulted. "Tom Landry's a great coach!" She pauses. "The quarterback thing aside."

"That I agree on."

"Did you know he was a pilot? B-17s." Her eyes are shining again. "My dad flew out of the same base. It's called Reese, now."

"Your dad teach you to fly?"

"Yeah." She smiles, but it's a little sad. There's a story, but he doesn't press. "Helicopters, especially, but small planes, too. I mean, I did work for the highway patrol."

"That is true."

She's starting to comment about their first meeting when she suddenly shifts gears. "You can't deny it now. I saw it again!"

"Saw what?"

"That beautiful machine of yours. Not half as clearly, but I saw it. And you called me over the com, so you can't deny you were there."

He'd forgotten about that one. He pulls his mask over his face; he's not going to tell her. "You nearly died, Cait. You were seeing things."

She clearly is getting irritated with that argument. "I nearly died doin' that movie stunt and I didn't hallucinate a helicopter then," she retorts.

Oh. Good point.

"I was a military pilot, Cait, and you were nearing military airspace with military planes following you. All I had to do was call in a favor."

"Not in a chopper like that!" She leans forward, resting her forearms on the table, her plate pushed to the side. Her eyes are shining with curiosity and excitement. "Come on. You can tell me," she says with a coaxing smile, as if sharing a secret. Her nose wrinkles every so slightly as she smiles. "I won't tell anybody."

He thinks vaguely that, again, he should be insulted that a pretty woman is more interested in his helicopter than in him, but the twinkle and excitement in her eyes are too much to resist. Dang, she's got brilliant eyes.

Grinning, he imitates her stance, leaning forward so they are nearly nose and nose, as if he's about to tell her. "Of course you won't tell," he whispers into her ear. "Because there's nothing TO tell."

She makes a face at him, pursing her lips as she tries to figure out another way to get at the information she wants. "I know I didn't imagine it."

"You were nearly blown up," he replies. "That's enough to imagine anything."

"Not a beauty like that one, it's not!" She looks at him with a 'gotcha' expression. "Come on, Hawke. How many people you know see black helicopters when they're about to die?"

True. But he isn't going to give in. "Well," he drawls, "I know this one lady chopper pilot from Texas, and every time - "

"Ha, funny." She twitches, trying to think up another way to do it. "I'll play you for it," she dares him, waving at the pool table.

"For what?"

"I win, you have to tell me."

"About what?"

She makes a face.

They don't play. As they're leaving, she drops her purse, and she bends over to grab her things. A teenager waiter's eyes nearly pop out of his head. Hawke glares at him, folding his arms across his chest. The boy gulps and hurries away.

Good thing they didn't play pool.

* * *

><p>The next morning, the doctor pulls up with Holly and Dom at Santini Air. He's waiting, and he's impressed that Caitlin is waiting here, too - but not surprised. She's too kindhearted not to be.<p>

There's some last minute paperwork and such that need to be taken care of, and half an hour later, Holly is ready to go. He and Dom are waiting outside by the car as the doctor and the nurse come by with Holly.

"She's really something, isn't she."

He looks over at Dom, who is watching the two women with a guilty expression on his face. "What?"

Dom nods towards Caitlin, who is carrying a bag as she walks towards Holly and the doctor. She seems to hesitate as she approaches, but the doctor waves her over. She delivers the bag - it's Holly's, he recognizes - and a small paper sack.

Holly seems a little sheepish, and she says something to Caitlin. Whatever it is makes the doctor nod approvingly and makes Caitlin give a sort of aw-shucks, embarrassed shake of her head.

"Nightmare she just got out of," Dom says, without his normal bluster. "And she's comforting Holly." He seems oddly subdued, his voice full of regret "She's a good kid."

"Yeah."

She retreats, and he sees her coming over to stand with them. Dom puts his arm around the pilot, and Hawke wonders briefly at his mentor's special solicitude towards Caitlin.

Holly bids him goodbye, and he can't help but hope that she'll be all right. He pities the poor girl; to be trapped in a mindset like that...

Everett approaches them to announce that the new helicopter is ready, and eventually Caitlin offers to take it up. Dom blusters his way through, but Hawke can tell that he's already decided to offer Caitlin some work, if not full-time right away. Caitlin gives Dom a huge hug, and when she releases him, she starts back towards the helicopter, eager to get to work.

He grins at Dom, who pretends to look resigned but can't seem to hold the expression. "Mind if go along?"

"Nah. Go ahead."

The blades have already begun rotating when he pulls open the door on the other side. "Want some company?"

"Dom send you to check up on me?" she asks, with just a tinge of suspicion.

He pretends offense. "You wound me."

"All right," she acquiesces with a big smile. "Come on!"


	3. Dom

**Missing Scenes, "The Truth about Holly"**  
>by Sammie<p><p>

* * *

><p><strong>Dom<strong>

She isn't what he's used to. Certainly not a yellow rose, Texan or otherwise.

She's not what he's used to, but she's sweet and kind, and now that his incident with his poor niece is over, he has time to think about his new employee.

He has to admit he's been hard on her. Her comment at the funeral, in retrospect, really wasn't...it wasn't anything. He just expected some flowery praise for Holly's comforting Hawke, and she hadn't supplied his expectations.

Caitlin O'Shannessy doesn't seem to supply many of his expectations at all, but he has to admit he rather enjoys the little girl. Oh, he's got a right to call her a little girl, even if String doesn't. Cait's young enough to be his daughter.

She takes his comments in stride with a grin, and the only time he's seen her mad in the last week has been over the bust cyclic, and given that she nearly died, well, that's understandable.

She's cheerful in what she does, from vacuuming helicopters to welding to flying, and he's noticed that in the last few days String has been smiling and laughing more than he generally does. He was rather dour after poor Gabrielle died. Not that he didn't have an excuse to be.

Dom adjusts his costume (why does he always get these awful-looking monstrosities?) and looks out over there. This time it's a fight scene, and unfortunately it's a scene that needs to be shot in sequence to match a fight. String's supposed to grab her from behind and throw against the helicopter; she's supposed to fight back, then jump into the helicopter and take off in one shot. Whether it's kissing String or kicking him, Caitlin seems to do both with equal gusto.

"Action!"

The struggle ensues, and suddenly Caitlin manages a shot that makes even Dom wince and suddenly lands String on the ground, groaning in a fetal position. Caitlin ruins the shot by instantly dropping to the ground next to String - as much as she can in this dress, which she is currently cursing - and reaching for him. "Hawke? Hawke? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kick you that hard! Are you OK?"

"D-mn, Cait!" he groans in agony, and Dom frowns, about to hurry over. "What did I ever do to you?"

"I'm so sorry!" Caitlin's on her knees, hunched over him, her hand on his face. "I didn't hit you too hard, did I? Hawke, I'm so sorry, I - "

He takes the opportunity to peck her on the lips, and she squeaks in surprise, falling backwards. She looks up to see him still lying on the ground, laughing.

"You - you faker!" She snatches the hat off his head and hits him repeatedly with it. He deflects it easy, still grinning. She's making a face at him, but her expression is more of vague irritation than fury.

The anger is reserved for the director. "That's not what you were instructed to do!"

"Aw c'mon. That's most likely a better shot than your stars gave you," String interjects with an amused smile and earns himself a glare from the director.

Dom chuckles to himself. The director most likely is regretting asking Santini Air to do his stunts, but he dug his own grave. He wanted a female pilot.

Ironically, he's getting some more calls about stunt jobs now that Caitlin's here. Carlson's big mouth apparently was a big help, and the news has been traveling that Santini's got a female pilot who's a daredevil and a great pilot and shoots in one take - and the only problem is that she comes saddled with two nervous Nellies.

This stunt involves Caitlin in a strapless, mid-thigh dress during the fight, and she hates the costume. While it's easy to run in, giving her full motion in her legs, the top of the dress has so much ribbing she can't even bend at the waist. It holds everything up so there won't be any "wardrobe malfunctions", as the costume designer puts it, but it's left her with rib marks on her back - and presumably, on her front, too, though she won't show that to anybody. Unfortunately, there's no way that anybody but her can match the body shape and the legs of the original female star - though Caitlin did cheekily suggest that String could try on the dress and got a dark look in response.

He's gotten a few more calls which require similar shots and already has a second job lined up for Caitlin. He just hopes they pan out; he's had enough calls in which people showed interest and never followed through. Until this flow of interest is permanent, Cait remains a part-time employee.

"Set it up again!" the director barks angrily, and Dom wanders over to where Caitlin and String are waiting.

Caitlin shivers, tugging at the dress. String takes off the long great coat they have him in and puts it on her shoulders; she smiles gratefully and wraps it tight. "This is ridiculous. I can barely move with this ribbed bodice! It's like trying to climb into a helicopter wearing a barrel!"

"Aw, we just give 'em what they want."

"What they want should be accuracy," Caitlin huffs. "And anybody who flies a chopper will see through this gag in a second."

* * *

><p>He hasn't seen Hawke try any of this normal acts to impress women. (And women are generally impressed.) Caitlin's far more fascinated by flying movie stunts and shooting film, and once has Dom already found her with a book open on movie stunts, smudges on her face.<p>

He has a feeling that, even if Hawke were to try to impress her, there's only two things that could: Airwolf and more "fancy flyin' stuff."

He's overheard her pressing Hawke about Airwolf, and at some point Hawke's been coming out, muttering, "Curiosity is going to kill that cat," to himself.

Yet, despite all outward signs, Dom knows String too well. The boy is falling, and fast, and he doesn't even know it.

Caitlin is, Dom thinks, what String needs. She's sparky, fun; she's a pilot and loves flying, and she's intelligent and sharp, and she's educated. He was shocked to hear her quoting his niece's favorite book without falling out of step, as if it were her normal speech. The reference actually went over Hawke's head - it's rare when it does that - but it's an obscure piece of literature.

Most of all, she still loves life. She's not just in it; she's living it.

String makes a cheeky comment from where he's lying on a cart, fixing the undercarriage of one of the Jet Rangers. A dirty sponge comes flying down from above, where Cait is working on the rotor; it hits him square on the leg. It's followed by a retort, and then String's laughter.

He hasn't heard String laugh so much or so often in a long time.

Well, Dom says to himself. His niece Jo keeps insisting that, if one of literature's most famous couples has anything to teach, it's that love comes from the unexpected pair, the one where neither was looking.

The sponge goes sailing back up and nails Caitlin in the head. She's sputtering when String pulls out on the cart to laugh, but he's too slow in pulling back under the protection of the Jet Ranger; she manages to bean him good.

Dom just smiles.

* * *

><p>"This is ridiculous!" Caitlin can be heard exclaiming.<p>

"Oh, no, she doesn't!" Dom shouts. "Barely hired and she's going to lose this second job for us!"

String is no help. He just sits in his chair and laughs.

He gives the younger man a glare and hurries to the office, where a heated conversation is about to start up, and swings the door open.

She comes stomping out, not easy given the fact that she's in high heels and in a dress that's so constricting it's a wonder she can move at all. It's black and entirely beaded, from the two -inch straps that hold the dress on her shoulders to the figure-hugging bodice to the tailored waist to the pencil skirt, which extends from the waist all the way down to the ankle. Caitlin can't seem to take more than hobbling steps, and she's already holding part of the skirt higher than half-calf.

"Wow!" Dom grins. "You look great, Caitlin!"

It also gets a more-than-normal reaction from String, who deigns to lean over from his seat and pull up his sunglasses. He clearly likes what he sees, propping his sunglasses onto his head as his face breaks out into an appreciative grin.

Caitlin clearly does not share the sentiment. "Well, fine," she retorts, her twang ringing in the "i". "If this is so great, tell me how we're supposed to do that stunt they explained? How I'm even supposed to fly the helicopter if I can barely step into it - or walk to it?"

Oh. Right. The stunt involved her running from a shooter and and then jumping into the helicopter and flying away. She's got a point.

Dom looks at the director, who seems immovable. String just looks amused and offers only, "She's got a point about getting into the helicopter, you know. She's got to pull herself in and then straddle the cyclic."

Cait looks triumphantly at the director. "There. Told you. You can't have both the stunt and the dress."

Dom thinks about throttling her. This is a huge offer from Paramount Studios.

"Well, there is a solution." The costume designer looks nervous.

"What?"

"Most of the shots we took in the dress were from the waist up, and a few of standing still. This is the only full-body shot where she's really moving."

"Yes..." the director looks impatient.

"I'll just cut two huge slits in the dress on each side. It'll allow Miss O'Shannessey to run, but it won't show in the shots."

Cait's mouth falls open. She doesn't seem to like this solution either.

The director narrows his eyes at the costume designer, pondering the thought, then grins big and wide. "I like it. I like it!"

"So do I," comments a third voice, its tone full of mirth. Hawke slides his glasses back onto his face, hiding his eyes, but he has an amused grin on his face. Dom just looks amused.

Caitlin makes a face.

* * *

><p>Whe she comes back out, she's got her hands on her skirt - trying to hold the slits closed. Her face is flushed a deep pink, and she avoids their gazes as she tries to sidestep and squirm her way out of their sight.<p>

He hears a chuckle from next to him, and he turns to see String sitting in one of the chairs on set, looking after her, an amused grin on his face.

If anything, Dom muses to himself, hiring Cait for String was well worth it. He hasn't seen the boy smile in so long, and he hasn't seen the boy smile so often in so very long, either. Sure, String is still suspicious, still prone to silence. Dom doubts that will ever change. But before and after Gabrielle's death, String smiled only on occasion. Just on occasion.

Dom never thought Caitlin was String's type. String brought home a certain type of girl: elegant, feminine, kind, tough-minded. Sometimes a damsel in distress - albeit a tough one at that. Gabrielle was that, and Dom knew from the instant that String was attracted to her how it was. He was grouchy at work, grouchy at home, and avoided her like the plague.

Caitlin is sweet, homegrown, apple-pie tomboy. He already heard her complaining the other day when the Cowboys lost yet again, and String was ribbing her endlessly about the loss. She's not his normal type, and apparently the dumb boy figured his normal walls of defense are entirely unneeded.

The older man, however, sees it. She's getting under his skin in a way he still doesn't recognize. Apparently String is now finding her just as attractive as his typical bombshells, even if she does hide under those mechanic's uniforms. He most likely thinks she's entirely unsuitable, and that he's entirely safe. And one day he'll find himself in the middle of the creek without a paddle, and he won't be able to fix on the hour, the spot, the look, the words which made the beginning of his feelings; he'll be in the middle before he knows he even began.

If Caitlin were any less than she is, Dom would warn him.

But as Caitlin sidles out the door, still trying to maintain some modicum of modesty by holding the one of the slits in her dress closed, Dom sees String's grin widen, and he can see the cogs in the boy's head turning. He's going to think up some tease, and he's going to make Caitlin blush and give some clever, impertinent retort.

He doesn't like to interfere in String's love life, but too many relationships have been too serious, driven by a deep passion and angst and sadness. Dom is Italian; he understands deep passion. He's also understands that every relationship needs fun and sparks and intellect, and for the first time, String's found a girl whose sense of humor matches his own on the turn-on-a-dime level. He's beginning to think the boy enjoys seeing Caitlin as much as he enjoys working on these movie stunts. Dom's never seen String have this much _fun_ with a woman.

Perhaps he should make Caitlin full-time.

_end_


End file.
